Sunday, February 17, 2008
Bernice Johnson Reagon, Lectionary Team Cultural Resource Commentator
I. Historical Background And Documents
A. Thoughts on the Balancing Contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Malcolm X: to African American culture, organized human culture–regarding
Nonviolence as a Transformative Force and the Necessity for Cleansing by
Righteous Anger.
The MAAFA concerns, among other things, acknowledging, remembering and
understanding, the ways in which African Americans have struggled against
oppression in America, after being forcibly brought here on slave ships. Often,
our national memory is skewed or at least anemic in areas. When I teach African
American History and we get to the Civil Rights Movement, it never fails that my
students think that Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. came first and was followed
or revised by Malcolm X. It is important for us all to understand that these men
were brothers moving within America during the same time period using different
approaches to obtain justice. These approaches represented the balance needed to
overcome oppression. It is with this sense of balance that at the same time
African Americans faced down the forces of racial segregation, street by street
with our very lives, and committed not to respond with hate and physical
violence; it never meant that we were not being confrontational.
Indeed, Civil Rights activism within local communities aimed to paralyze the
local structure, to force setting of a new agenda on race, segregation, and
access. It was activism spirited and energized by gifted souls which led to
the discovery that through the commitment not to kill, one could fight racism
and discover transformative restorative love, which was a new offering from
African Americans as they struggled for their basic rights and for the rights of
others. And Brother Malcolm saying it is healthy to be angry and pissed off about
how black people had been treated in this nation of our birth, was fearful,
threatening, and cleansing. Malcolm X, more than any other presence, inserted
into the African American cultural canon the right and necessity to express
anger. He showed us that “keeping the peace–by holding your peace” is not a
noble virtue. Yes, we had been taught that if we stepped out of line we might
be killed, but Malcolm suggested that a person cannot “stay in line” without
distorting and self-wounding his or her soul. The Civil Rights Movement
demonstrated that everybody has something to give to transform conditions we
find ourselves aching to change… one has a life to offer so that while the
blood runs warm in our veins, we do not have to sit by and watch evil in silence.
We must always acknowledge, remember, and understand this.
B. Marimba Ani And MAAFA
Dr. Marimba Ani in her work Let the Circle Be Unbroken (1989) uses MAAFA,
(the Kiswahili word for disaster, terrible occurrence or great tragedy) to
describe the African Holocaust (the complete devastation or destruction of the
African people, which resulted from the enslavement of Africa’s human resource)
as the most destructive act ever perpetuated by one people upon another. “Within
the setting of our enslavement, the ideology of white supremacy was systematically
reinforced by a set of interlocking mechanisms and patterns that functioned to
deny the validity of an African humanity.1
The MAAFA translated into English means “The Enslavement of (Mama) Africa.”
However, the word MAAFA, when translated to English, is also used to define the
words menace, threat, terror, and most importantly injustice. These words fully
encapsulate the threat of an invading Arabic and European menace that terrorized
Mama Africa and perpetrated a great injustice upon her and her children. The
capitalization of the word MAAFA accentuates the magnitude of the injustice
committed against Mama Africa and her children, for it was her natural resources
as well as the African people who were raped, plundered, and murdered.
Dr. Ani introduced the concept of The MAAFA into contemporary African American
scholarship as a preferred reference to the period in world history identified
as the Middle Passage or trans-Atlantic slave trade.2 MAAFA observances
bring people into closer communion with ancestors who perished during the
trans-Atlantic slave trade. By some estimates, 50 to 75 million African men,
women, and children were stolen from Africa and warehoused for shipping to the
Western Hemisphere. Some died in the bellies of slave ships on the high seas en
route to an unknown destiny. Other died in the slave fortresses along the coast
of West Africa, and many died during violent raids on African villages. Without
a knowledge of history, many may be unaware of the fact that Islamic traders
carried on a steady slave trade from East African ports for many centuries
(even before the Europeans) resulting in the deaths of many more Africans during
the long and treacherous journeys from the interior to the east coast.3
All of them are remembered and honored during MAAFA observances. In her book,
Dr. Ani also speaks of the importance of Africans in America using African
language to define their history and experiences, and her search through various
African languages, to find a term that would let us uniquely claim this
experience.
II. African American Use of Swahili, And Bantu’s Influence And Reach…
One might wonder why African Americans so often reach for Swahili as we pull
elements of Africa into the weave of our existence in the United States of
America. Most of us are unaware that the concept of Africa as a unified presence
was born out of the Middle Passage and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. On the
continent of Africa, cultural identity was born out of specific cultural and
tribal groups. When African Americans began to reach for Africa we were not
restricted by specific cultural groups, we were more interested in accessibility.
In a contemporary sense, it is said that we are drawn to Kiswahili because we
like the sound, we find it accessible, and it is a hybrid language of exchange
evolved over centuries and cultures moving and intersecting. I find it
interesting to consider that Swahili is a Bantu language and the Bantu people
began their journey out of western Africa thousands of years ago and wherever
they moved, the culture exchange left a Bantu imprint.
Ani’s work belongs to a tradition of activist cultural scholars and creators who
are committed to consciously contributing to the work of continued transformative
survival of African Americans. MAAFA services are a part of that work.
There is an African proverb that says “to forget is the same as to throw away.”
The idea of finding healing from acknowledging the pain, degradation, and horror
of the past is finding many supporters among African American scholars and
healers across the United States. Dr. Na’im Akbar has long expressed his belief
that much of what ails African Americans had its origins in the Middle Passage
and the enslavement of Africans in America. He contends that the trauma our
ancestors endured was so profound and has gone untreated for so long that
African America suffers from what he calls “posttraumatic slavery disorder.”
Commemorating The MAAFA encourages people of African descent to confront the
ghost and demons of the past head-on, in order to move beyond these psychic
wounds. It is not about blame or finger pointing. It’s about finding a way to
heal and move beyond the many wrongs this nation and others have perpetrated in
the name of profit and power.4
III. Historical Writings That Provide Insight
A. Excerpts from the book “Slavery and the Slave Trade”5
Slaves attempted to preserve the culture that they brought with them from Africa.
Jeanette Murphy recalled: "During my childhood my observations were centered upon
a few very old Negroes who came directly from Africa, and upon many others whose
parents were African-born, and I early came to the conclusion, based upon negro
authority, that the greater part of the music, their methods, their scales, their
type of thought, their dancing, their patting of feet, their clapping of hands,
their grimaces and pantomime, and their gross superstitions came straight from
Africa." Attempts were made to stop slaves from continuing with African religious
rituals. Drums were banned as overseers6
feared that they could be used to send messages. They were particularly concerned
that they would be used to signal a slave uprising.
B.Frederick Douglass Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)
“While on their way (to work), the slaves would make the dense old woods, for
miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest
joy and the deepest sadness. They would compose and sing as they went along,
consulting neither time nor tune. The thought that came up, came out, if not in
the word, in the sound; and as frequently in the one as in the other. They would
sometimes sing the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous tone, and the
most rapturous sentiment in the most pathetic tone. This they would sing, as a
chorus, to words which to many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which,
nevertheless, were full of meaning to themselves. I have sometimes thought that
the mere hearing of those songs would do more to impress some minds with the
horrible character of slavery, than the reading of whole volumes of philosophy on
the subject could do.”7
IV. Sankofa And the Importance of Memory
Those who have suffered unspeakable atrocities may want to forget. However, it is
important to remember the evil of the past so that it is not repeated. The word
Sankofa can mean either the word in the
Akan language of
Ghana that translates in English to "go back and take"
(Sanko- go back, fa- take) or the Asante
Adinkra
symbol.
The Asante of Ghana use an Adinkra symbol to represent this same idea and one
version of it is similar to the eastern symbol of a heart, and another version is
that of a bird with its head turned backwards taking an egg off its back. It
symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in
order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge.
This is another reason we must remember The MAAFA.
Adinkra symbols are used by the Asante to express
proverbs
and other philosophical
ideas. These ideas are numerous and are used throughout the world because of
their aesthetic and spiritual beauty. Sankofa has since been adopted by other
cultural groups in the area and around the world.8
V. A Story to Remember: The Death of Emmett Till
Few events galvanized the fight for racial justice than the death of Emmett Till.
May we never forget the role of his story in our larger story.
“Have you ever sent a loved son on vacation and had him returned to you in a
pine box, so horribly battered and water-logged that someone needs to tell you
this sickening sight is your son -- lynched?” These are the words of Mamie Till
Bradley Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till.
In August 1955, Emmett, a fourteen year old, bright and handsome boy went to
visit relatives near Money, Mississippi. Emmett had experienced segregation in
his hometown of Chicago, but he was unaccustomed to the severe segregation he
encountered in Mississippi. He is said to have either whistled or made a
flirtatious comment to Carolyn Bryant, the wife of a local storeowner while in a
store.
A few days later, two men came to the cabin of Mose Wright, Emmett’s uncle, in
the middle of the night. Roy Bryant, the owner of the store, and J.W. Milam, his
brother-in-law, drove off with Emmett. Three days later, Emmett Till’s body was
found in the Tallahatchie River. One eye was gouged out, and his crushed-in head
had a bullet in it. The corpse was nearly unrecognizable; Mose Wright could only
positively identify the body as Emmett’s because he was wearing an initialed
ring.
Bryant and Milam were arrested for kidnapping even before Emmett's body was
found. The Emmett Till case quickly attracted national attention. Mamie Bradley,
Emmett's mother, asked that the body be shipped back to Chicago. When it arrived,
she inspected it carefully to ensure that it really was her son. Then, she
insisted on an open-casket funeral, so that “all the world could see what they
did to my son.” Over four days, thousands of people saw Emmett’s body. Many more
blacks across the country who might not have otherwise heard of the case were
shocked by pictures that appeared in “Jet” magazine. These pictures moved blacks
in a way that nothing else had. When the “Cleveland Call” and “Post” polled major
black radio preachers around the country, it found that five of every six were
preaching about Emmett Till, and half of them were demanding that “something be
done in Mississippi now.”
The two men went on trial in a segregated courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi on
September 19, 1955. In the end, Defense attorney John C. Whitten told the jurors
in his closing statement, “Your fathers will turn over in their graves if
[Milam and Bryant are found guilty] and I’m sure that every last Anglo-Saxon one
of you has the courage to free these men in the face of that [outside] pressure.”
The jurors listened to him. They deliberated for just over an hour, then returned
a “not guilty” verdict on September 23, the 166th anniversary of the signing of
the Bill of Rights. The jury foreman later explained, “I feel the state failed to
prove the identity of the body.” In Mamie Bradley Mobley’s words, “Two months ago
I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son. When something
happened to the Negroes in the South I said, ‘That’s their business, not mine.’
Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens
to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.”9
In September 2005, the Till Bill was passed by the United States Congress
creating a new Federal Unit within the Justice Department to Probe old Civil
Rights cases.
VI. Song Texts
Paul Robeson was interviewed about music by R. E. Knowles for the
Toronto Daily Star. (November 21, 1929):
“The African people have an almost instinctive flair for music. This faculty was
born in sorrow. I think that slavery, its anguish and separation - and all the
longings it brought- gave it birth. The nearest to it is to be found in Russia,
and you know about their serf sorrows. The Russian has the same rhythmic
quality - but not the melodic beauty of the African. It is an emotional product,
developed, I think, through suffering.”
Waters (rivers) of Babylon
Sacred Song from the Jamaican Christian and Rastafarian traditions
It would be from this side of the water, this side of the Middle Passage, that
the descendants of that journey created our singing. Here we first hear the
remembering of captivity, then of the captors asking us to sing some of our songs
of Zion. It is not surprising that we like the Psalmist in Zion have asked–How can we sing the songs of our knowingness in this strange land? And that to
answer the question some of the creators of our songs reached for the fourteenth
verse of Psalm 19 with a commitment to sound, our survival, and perseverance to
the elements, and to know we are. As a singer of African American traditional
songs, I know that we sing to know that “we are” and to know “who we are” and to
offer that knowing and presence to the universe.
Text from Psalm 137:1-5, and Psalm 19:14
By the waters of Babylon (2x)
Where we sat down
And there we wept
When we remembered Zion
Oh the wicked carried us away to captivity (2x)
Required of us a song
How can we sing our holy songs in a strange land
So let the words of my mouth (2x)
And the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Zion (“Over I”)
On Remembering10
I Remember, I Believe
I don’t know how my mother walked her trouble down
I don’t know how my father stood his ground
I don’t know how my people survive slavery
I do remember that’s why I believe
I don’t know why the rivers overflow their banks
I don’t know why the snow falls and covers the ground
I don’t know why the hurricane sweeps thru the land every now and then
Standing in a rainstorm, I believe
I don’t know why the angels woke me up this morning soon
And I don’t why the blood still runs thru my veins
I don’t how I rate to run another day
I am here still running, I believe
My God calls to me in the morning dew
Power of the Universe knows my name
Gave me a song to sing and sent me on my way
I raise my voice for justice, I believe
I Be Troubled
I be troubled
I be troubled
I be troubled ‘bout my time done long gone
I be troubled
I be troubled
I be troubled ‘bout my time done long gone
I be worried…
I be worried in the bottom of my being here…
I be trying…
I be trying to keep my mind about me
I be worried…
I be worried how my spirit just cried out…
In the morning…
I don’t feel like seeing the sun come shining
Why Did They Take Us Away
Why did they take us away?
Why did they take us away?
Why did they take us away?
I can’t reach out my arms
I can’t reach out my arms
I stand on shifting sands
I hold on to my song
I hold on to my song
It makes me know my name
My sun is burning high
My sun is burning high
Come watch my golden flame
I can’t roll back the years
I can’t roll back the years
I must keep moving on…
Notes
- Ani, Marimba. Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The Implications of African
Spirituality in the Diaspora. New York, NY: Nkonimfo Publications, 2007
(originally published in 1989, Dona Marimba Richards, copyright, 1980).
- Ibid.
- Lewis, Bernard. The Arabs in History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.
- Lewis, Edmond W. Honor and Memory. The Louisiana Weekly. New Orleans:
Louisiana Weekly Pub. Co., June 28, 2004. Online location:
www.louisianaweekly.com accessed 5 December 2007
- Walvin, James. Slavery and the Slave Trade: A Short Illustrated History.
Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1983.
- “Overseers” Simkin, John. ed. Spartacus Educational. Online location:
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAoverseers.htm accessed 5 December 2007
- Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
- "Sankofa." Wikipedia 26 Jan. 2008. Online location: Reference.com
www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Sankofa accessed 5 December 2007
- Cozzens, Lisa. “The Murder of Emmett Till (Early Civil Rights Struggles).”
25 May 1998. African American History. Online location:
fledge.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory accessed 5 December 2007
- Songs written by Bernice Johnson Reagon, Washington, D.C.
|
